Another Drummer Wannabe

[c7sus]

I've been thinking lately about getting a snare and maybe a highhat to fool around with. The Pearl Chad Smith has caught my eye, along with the Anton Fig model. I played a bit on the Fig and noticed it had a real deep sound, actually deeper then I like, but I dig the wood rims. I haven't tried the Chad Smith yet, but I understand it to be pretty bright. And I know nothing about highhats, but I'm willing to spend the bread for a good stand and like a nice tight sound, but I also like the kind of effect you get when closing them slowly and they ring a bit, know what I mean?

Anyway, I'm also looking for suggestions for a beginning drummer for a video or something along those lines to help me learn the fundamentals. I like jazz and rock styles, like John Molo, Mickey Hart, Kreutzman, Moon, etc.

[jontflesh]

C7sus,
Just a couple of thoughts. I really liked the Anton Fig snare when I first saw it too. The only thing that I did not like was the wood rim, I am afraid if I went with that drum I would have broke the rim pretty quick. If you read the thread above you can see what I went with.
As for stands I will say check out Tama's Iron Cobra line. They are IMHO the most sturdy hardware I have ever played on. I have the Iron Cobra high hat stand and it is a really smooth stand, has 2 legs (for extra space) and is strong enough to hold a large cowbell without affecting the up and down movement at all.
As for the H.H. cymbals go and play on a bunch for a while and choose the sound you are looking for. I just had to buy some new ones too. I am at home and can't remember the exact model but.... I found these Zildjian ones that rock. They have a smooth finish and are projection cymbals. All in all they are very loud and have a really nice dark tone to them. Since you want the H.H. to ring a bit you might check these out. I play alot with open H.H. and these have a really really good sound when partially open but not too over bearing. Damn I wish I could remember the exact model.

I am not much of a video head, so not much help on that front. One thing that has helped my kit playing is most rudement snare books and kit books. Here are a few:


*Drum Method by Haskell W. Harr Book Two

*Stick Control for the snare drummer by George Lawrence Stone
Both these books are geared for snare drum but I saw fuey with that. Practice all the warm ups in it with snare alone at first. Then add a bass in for beat. Then start incorporating toms and cymbals for the snare hits. That really starts woriking on fills and cool all tom beats with snare rudiments.
A great begining kit book is:
Rockin Bass Drum by John Lombardo
This book rocks all IMHO. The book focusus on getting a good powerful bass rythm going and working on the rest from there.

Anyway this is getting damn long.
Good luck!

jontflesh

[memo]

The wood hoops are much much more stronger than you would think they are. I have several friends who own them (all through the set, Yamaha wood hoops). Apart from giving the drum an extremely sweet, warm and woody tone they are STRONG. They don't get any damage if you hit them normally, even if you bash them like a madman, they only dent.

Go to a music shop and play as many snares as you can, (maple, birch, copper, brass, bronze whatever!). And pick the one you like, and the one which suits your wallet the best. People usually like a "cracking" snare, which usually comes from tightly tuned drums. A deeper drum will give you a deeper tone, a more shallow drum will give you a faster and tighter tone (also better snare articulation). The general diameter of snare drums is 14", as the diameter decreases the pitch of the drum raises. The thicker the shell of the drum - more the projection and presence. Metal shells usually contribute to a brighter sound. As I said, it's all upto preferance, these are just some guidelines, go hear for yourself.

In hihats people usually look for "a good open and closed sound", "a good chick sound (pressing down the pedal)" and "good articulation". Shiny looking cymbals sound brighter and they are usually called "brilliant finishes". The pitch - diameter principal applies here too. People who play jazz usually look for a darker tone, pop a tighter tone and rock good "wash".

I'd think that a 14" set of "Zildjian A Mastersounds" is a good general hihat which has a bit of everything.

I hope this helped...

[e-drummer]

As well as being a drummer I dabble in a bit of computer programming(spot the geek) and have written a drum tutor program that plays patterns through your sound card shows the music notation and highlights the note heads in realtime as it plays.
I wrote the program mainly as a tool for myself,I found it so useful to my coordination between hands and feet that I thought others may find it helpfull as well.
Oh and yes its totally free.
The program runs on win 95 ,win 98 but not NT (sorry)
youll find the url in my profile.